Two weeks ago, the most powerful U.S. regulators and bankers huddled in the Lower Manhattan fortress that is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, desperately trying to stave off disaster. As the group, led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., pondered the collapse of one of the oldest U.S. investment banks, Lehman Brothers, a more dangerous threat emerged: American International Group, the world's largest insurer, was teetering. AIG needed billions of dollars to right itself and had suddenly begged for help.

The dollar declined broadly Monday after the U.S. House of Representatives defeated a $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan and stock markets tumbled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 600 points as the votes were being tallied, but has since recovered some and was down 571 points in recent trade.

Parents are saving less for their children's college education this year than last year, and more people have saved nothing at all, according to the survey by the Washington-based College Savings Foundation. Estimating that tuition and board will increase 5 percent annually, the projected cost of college in 15 years will be more than $100,000 for a four-year public college and more than $200,000 for a private college. The nonprofit foundation has suggested some potential solutions for parents faced with the shock-and-awe of such crushing numbers.

Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group will acquire a 21-per-cent stake in Morgan Stanley as the financial crisis has hurt confidence in US banks and hampered liquidity, the firms announced Monday.

US banking giant Citigroup Inc will buy the bulk of the operations of fourth-largest bank Wachovia Corp, the latest consolidation move under government watch in the ongoing credit crisis.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence. Spurred by growing entrepreneurial trends and affluence among the nation's largest minority population, the increase is expected to come at a robust rate of 8.5 and 8.7 percent, respectfully, over the next couple years.

For more than two decades, the annual Hispanic Business 500 directory has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy. A purchase of the 2007 directory provides the top 500 Hispanic-owned companies list in Excel format including: CEO names; company addresses and telephone numbers; e-mail addresses for 375 companies and Web addresses for 430 companies; and company revenue and employees numbers for 2005 and 2006.

Competition for the Diversity Elite 60 list was stiff this year. The point spread on which our research division's rankings are based showed that the gap between first place and 60th was closer than ever before. It's a sign that corporations are continuing to grow their diversity programs as understanding increases about the importance of workplace multiculturalism.

Even as U.S. Hispanics fight to gain access to academia, universities and colleges are being challenged to reach out to the Hispanic community to achieve their diversity goals. Some of these schools have higher goals than others. To some, achieving diversity is about more than talk, it is about taking action. Some are aggressive, creative, and highly successful in their outreach to Hispanics. Each year, we celebrate these schools and their mission in our September issue. These are among the most progressive and laudable institutions of higher learning in the world.

Even as an increasing number of companies throughout the U.S. are recognizing that diversity is critical to increasing profits, one company has already reached out and excelled at it. This year AT&T heads the 2008 Hispanic Business Diversity Elite, a list of the nation's top 60 companies as measured in terms of best practices in the overall field of diversity and inclusion.